stump (stump)

and a. [Early mod. E. also stompe; stumpe, stompe MD. stompe, stomp = OHG. stumph, MHG. G. stumpf = Icel. stumpr = Dan. Sw. stump, a stump, = Lith. stambras, a stump; Skt. stambha, a post, stem. Cf. stub.] I. n. 1. The truncated lower end of a tree or large shrub; the part of a vegetable trunk or stem of some size left rooted in the ground when the main part falls or is cut down; after eradication, the stub with the attached roots; used absolutely, the stub of a tree: as, the stump of an oak; cabbage- stumps; to clear a field of stumps. Their courtly figures, seated on the stump Of an old yew, their favorite resting-place. Words worth, Excursion, vi. They disposed themselves variously on stumps and boulders, and sat expectant. Bret Harte , Tenne ee's Partner. 2. A truncated part of anything extended in length; that part which remains after the main or more important part has been removed; a stub: as, the stump of a limb; the stump of a tooth; a cigar- stump. The stumpe of Dagon, whose head and hands were cut off by his fall. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 30. A Gauntlet of hot Oil was clapped upon the stump [of an amputated arm], to stanch the Blood. Howell , Letters, I. i. 18. 3. pl. Legs: as, to stir one's stumps. [Colloq.] How should we bustle forward? give some counsel How to bestir our stumps in these cro ways. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1. 4. A post. [Prov. Eng.]-5. One of the three posts constituting a wicket in the game of cricket. They are called respectively the leg -stump (next to which the batsman stands), middle stump, and off stump. Their lower ends are pointed so as to be easily driven into the ground; the height at which they stand when fixed is 27 inches, and the width of the three, including the space between them, 8 inches. The top of each stump is grooved, and in the grooves the two small pieces of wood called bails, each 4 inches long, are laid from stump to stump. 6. A rubbing instrument used for toning the lights and shades of crayon or charcoal-drawings, and sometimes for softening or broadening the lines of pencil-drawings and for applying solid tints with powdered colors. It is a short thick roll of paper or soft leather, or a bar of india-rubber, pointed at both ends.-7. In a lock, a projection on which a dog, fence, or tumbler rests. Sometimes it is introduced to prevent the improper retraction of the bolt, and sometimes to guide a moving part.-8. A place or an occasion of popular political oratory; a political rostrum or platform; hence, partizan public speaking; popular advocacy of a cause: as, to take the stump, or go on the stump, for a candidate. This meaning of the word arose from the frequent early use in the United States of a tree-stump as a rostrum in open-air political meetings. It does not nece arily convey a derogatory implication. Superficial politicians on the stump still talk of the Glads ton i an policy of 1886 as if it existed in 1889. Nineteenth Century , XXVI. 748. 9. In coal - mining, a small pillar of coal left between the gangway or airway and the breasts to protect these pa ages; any small pillar. Penn. Surv. Glo .-10. A blunted sound; a stump sound which seems to be suddenly cut off or stopped; a thud. [Rare.] Far up the valley the distant stump of a musket-shot reaches our ears. The Century , XXXVIII. 399. 11. A challenge or defiance to do something considered impracticable, very difficult, or very daring-that is, something to stump the person attempting it. [Colloq., U. S.] The reason for this little freak was a stump on the part of some musicians, because it was not supposed he could handle a baton. He did it. Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XIV. 4. 12. In entom., a very short vein or nervure of the wing, arising from another vein, and suddenly ending without emitting branches. - 13. Of worms, a foot-stump. See parapodium, 1.To start a ve el from the stump. See start1.- Up a stump, stumped; nonplu ed; "up a tree." II. a . 1. Stumped; stumpy; truncated; like a stump or stub: as, a dog with a stump tail. A heavie stompe leg of wood to go with all. Ascham , The Scholemaster, p. 127. 2. Of or pertaining to the stump in the political sense: as, a stump speech or speaker; stump eloquence. The florid eloquence of his [Lincoln's] stump speeches. The Century, XXXIX. 575. Stump tracery, in arch., for riety of interpenetrating medieval Pointed tracery, in which the molded bar is represented as contorted and pa ing through itself at intervals, and cut off short so as to form a stump after every such interpenetration. 6008 Stump it , my cove; that's a Bow-street runner. Bulwer, Night and Morning, ii. 2. (b) To travel about making stump speeches. [Colloq.] stumpage (stum'pāj), n . [ stump + -age.] 1. Standing timber; timber-trees collectively, as in a particular tract of forest, with reference to their value for cutting or stumping, independently of that of the land. [U. S.] No forest lands are to be sold, but the stumpage on them may be disposed of in the discretion of the commi ioner of forests. Sci. Amer., N. S., LVIII. 98. 2. A tax levied in some of the United States on the amount and value of timber cut for commercial purposes. stumper (stum'per), n. [ stump +-er1.] One who or that which stumps, in any sense. "How many legs has a caterpillar got?" I need hardly add that the question was a stumper to the good bishop. N. and Q., 7th ser., XI. 117. IMG:content-2321.png:[blocks in formation] The electrical stun is a stun too quickly applied to be Sci. Amer., N. S., LXIII. 200. painful. stun2 (stun), n. [Origin obscure.] In marble working, one of the deep marks made by coarse particles of sand getting between the saw-blade and the side of the kerf. O. Byrne. stundt, n. See stound1.